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Hindi Classical Music Has Roots In Hindu Kush's Pashtoon Belt: Dr Rashid Ahmad Khan
Chand Sahkeel Published January 09, 2023 | 07:21 PM
Dr Rashid Ahmad Khan, the first ever PhD scholar on Pashto music, has claimed that Hindi classical music had its origin in the Pashtoon belt of the Hindu Kush region the folk melody of which is as old as the Gandhara civilization, dating back to 1500 BC
PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Jan, 2023 ) :Dr Rashid Ahmad Khan, the first ever PhD scholar on Pashto music, has claimed that Hindi classical music had its origin in the Pashtoon belt of the Hindu Kush region the folk melody of which is as old as the Gandhara civilization, dating back to 1500 BC.
While summarizing the finding of his 8-year research work on "Critical Analysis of Pashto Music", Dr Rashid, who is also a known singer and poet, observed that the breeze wafting above the Hindu Kush mountains region became melodious rhymes flowing down to the flat region between river Amu and river Aba-sind.
After successfully defending his PhD thesis on December 15, 2022, at Pashto Department of Peshawar University, Dr Rashid became the first-ever PhD scholar of Pashto Music in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well.
The research and critical thesis was the maiden attempt to explore Pashto music and to define the nature of the variations between its different traditions, Rashid told APP in an interview.
Referring to his claim, Dr Rashid said the origin of Indian classical music dated back to the sacred Vedic scriptures over 3500 years ago where chants developed a system of musical notes and rhythmic cycles.
"It is an agreed history fact, which was also proved in my research that the Vedic initial phrases are written in Pakhtunkhwa mountainous terrain as the holy book also has mentions of different rivers of our region like Swasto for Swat, Somo Kromo for Kurram and famous Kabul river," said Rashid to substantiate his viewpoint.
Mention of these locations also substantiated the viewpoint that the initial phrases of Vedic were related to areas including Hindu Kush, Nangarhar, Mardan, Swat and Peshawar valley, he reckoned.
At that time the elders of the Hindu religion formed three rhymes: Odat, Anudat and Swarit which marked the beginning of Hindi classical music learning and later transformed into the very basic lesson of 'Sare Gama Pa da ni Sah', he maintained.
The Hindi classical music had a very close connection with Pashto folk music which tuned finer and finer with the passage of time and with the progress of civilization, he went on to say.
In his research study, Dr Rashid also argued over the meaning of 'Gandhara' which was widely taken as `Perfume'. According to him, the original name was `Gandharvas' which meant 'beautiful deities' of melody, who were in heaven.
The name Gandharvas later transformed into Gandhav which meant `music' and finally became Gandhara -- a place where music was played, he opined.
He argued that after the arrival and spread of Buddhism in the region during the Kushan dynasty, the Hindus migrated to other parts of the sub-continent along with their religious as well as musical instruments and norms.
Dr Rashid visited different cities in Pakistan and Afghanistan and interviewed over 2,000 musicians, experts and folk artists for his research thesis on Pashto music. "I travelled to many cities and museums in KP, Baluchistan and even in Afghanistan to dig out history, eras and evolution of Pashto folk music alongside musical instruments that helped survive Pashto folk rhythmical expressions to date." "In my thesis," he said, "I have tried to introduce the five main traditions in Pashto music including the Kandahari, the Logar, the Yousafzai, and Pakitiaee. I have defined the rules, modes, vocals, instruments, instrumental sounds, chords and features to elaborate the differences between these music traditions." Dr Rashid, whose songs have a great liking in Pakistan and Afghanistan, also claimed that the roots of Rabab (a traditional wooden musical instrument with strings tied from one end to other like a guitar) in the Pashtoon belt and said its historic name was 'Veena'.
He said most Rabab players were in KP and Afghanistan and were found in different shapes in historic evidence of the Gandhara period.
The oldest historic evidence about rabab playing was found only in the Pashtoon region, not in Arab, India or Syria, he added.
He said the present veena musical instrument being played in India was not the real rabab as it was only 1,200 to 1,400 years old. Whereas the history of rabab went back 1,800 to 2,000 years back.
The Pashto music scholar said the prevailing wave of extremism in Afghanistan and the Pashtoon belt of Pakistan was detrimental to music promotion.
Rashid plans to do postdoctoral research in his field and has also urged youngsters to concentrate on the preservation of music and old traditions of the region by conducting further studies in these fields.
"The rich musical history of Gandhara region needs exploration of more facts and for this purpose, music should be introduced as a subject in our curriculum so that more information could be dug out," he suggested.
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